UNC Reveals Spring COVID-19 Testing Requirements for Students

 

UNC leadership shared the university’s plan for COVID-19 testing among its student population on Monday.

As the fall semester comes to a close, UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz sent a message to the campus community detailing plans for asymptomatic testing during the upcoming spring semester. The university aims to bring around 3,500 undergraduate students back to campus while avoiding severe outbreaks or clusters of positive coronavirus cases. To do this, the chancellor outlined testing plans for both students living on-campus in dorms and students living within the greater Chapel Hill community.

“This plan is truly a campus-wide effort,” wrote Guskiewicz, “being developed by faculty and staff leaders who are identifying UNC-Chapel Hill resources that can be utilized to provide the most efficient and effective testing program possible so that Carolina can be a safe and inclusive living, working and learning environment for all.”

Asymptomatic PCR testing will be required twice a week for UNC students either taking classes in-person, living in a residence hall, living in Granville Towers or living in a space with more than ten total residents. Students living in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro community will also be required to get tested once a week, even when solely enrolled in remote classes. Asymptomatic testing for graduate, professional and post-doctoral students accessing resources or teaching on campus will also be a weekly requirement.

To complete the testing, UNC students must go to one of three separate locations on campus where testing stations will be set up. Additionally, all students living on campus or in the Chapel Hill and Carrboro area will be required to take a test at home prior to the spring semester starting on January 19. Re-entry testing upon physical return to campus will also be conducted.

The three testing centers on campus will be the Frank Porter Graham Student Union, which has operated as a testing site for weeks during the fall semester, as well as the multipurpose room of the UNC Rams Head Recreation Center and the CURRENT ArtSpace + Studio on West Franklin Street. Upon arrival, students will use the Hall Pass app to register their appearance and follow instructions for self-administering the anterior nares swab test. To complete the test, students will stick the swab into each nostril before placing into a collection tube, scanning the tube’s barcode and sanitizing their hands.

Hours for each UNC-run testing location will be 7 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays and 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Results from the PCR-based tests will be sent to students within 48 hours after processing at a university lab.

This testing method will be used to monitor any potential spread of COVID-19, but UNC says campus community members experiencing symptoms must be tested at Campus Health instead of the asymptomatic testing sites.

UNC’s spring 2021 semester is slated to begin on January 19, but Guskiewicz said in his Monday message university officials are monitoring the rising COVID-19 trends across the country.

“We will closely monitor the cases and hospitalizations nationally, in our state, and locally, as we approach the semester and will be ready to alter our plans and make necessary accommodations, if needed,” the chancellor wrote. “We will announce any changes to the spring semester operations by January 9, and until then, we will prepare for the semester by making the decisions we believe will best help our community have a safe and successful semester.”

More information about UNC’s coronavirus testing plan for students in the spring can be found on the Carolina Together website.

Featured photo via Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill.

Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees. You can support local journalism and our mission to serve the community. Contribute today – every single dollar matters.